Horses from Sydney and major stables making the trip to country areas is the norm these days and some of the biggest names in racing - headlined by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott - were among the nominations for Sunday's $100,000 Dubbo Gold Cup.

But, in a real point of pride for Dubbo Turf Club, there's a strong group of local gallopers who shape as top contenders in both the cup, the Flying Handicap feature sprint, and the rest of the day's events.

Dubbo Turf Club Racing Manager Gavin Barlow heaped praise on the local industry this week, with more than 15 trainers training roughly 170 horses at the track currently.

Kody Nestor is making the biggest waves of anyone in the western area. He collected more than $1 million in prizemoney last season and finished inside NSW's top 20 trainers.

He's now targeting the $1.3 million Kosciuszko with Caridff and Jailbreak, who are both nominated for Sunday's Flying.

He's not alone though, as Dar Lunn and Brett Robb have also been eyeing the Kosciuszko, while Mick Lunn was racing in Sydney last weekend, Clint Lundholm is building his stables to as big as they've ever been.

"He [Nestor] going from strength to strength and keeps updating his stables," Barlow said.

"It's great to see Dar doing well and Mick Lunn has been going great lately, as well. He's got Wishfilly and a couple of others and Clint is always going.

"It will great to see them have a shot on the great day. Hopefully there's a lot of locals in the winners circle come Sunday."

Outside of Dubbo there's also plenty of quality at the moment. Narromine trainer Kylie Kennedy and Bathurst's Gayna Williams have nominated recent cup winners Wild Rocket and From The Bush respectively for Sunday's feature while Wellington trainer Michael Mulholland, a former Gold Cup victor, is also in the mix.

The locals were well represented in the bumper 269 nominations Sunday's showcase eight-race showcase meeting received.

Barlow said sponsors, namely Sunday's major sponsor Dubbo City and Gilgandra Toyota, have helped the club continue to thrive during lockdown but he said much of the success and respect for the racing surface comes from the work track supervisor Damien Johnston and his team does.

"I'm a bit biased but I don't know if there's any country track up to this standard at the moment," Barlow said.

"Consistently across the full 2200m it's perfect and I've worked in racing in Sydney and down south and this is one of the best country tracks I've seen, if not the best."

The fields for Sunday's meeting are released on Thursday.

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